Impressive bowling display help hosts register 34-run victory against high-flying Chennai
Delhi Daredevils got a morale-boosting 34-run victory against the already qualified Chennai Super Kings in a dead rubber here on Friday.
The final outcome will not alter the league table in any way, nonetheless it will be something to cheer for the home fans following another below-par campaign from Daredevils. It was only the fourth win of the season for bottom-placed Delhi.
On Friday, the seemingly slow wicket at Feroz Shah Kotla stadium played its part, but one has to feel that Chennai left it pretty late and had a mountain to climb in the end which seemed highly improbable with every passing delivery.
On the other hand, Harshal Patel-Vijay Shankar's crucial 6th wicket partnership of 65 off 32 balls for Delhi proved to be the difference in the end. Notably, the 26 runs scored in the final over from Dwayne Bravo's bowling shifted the momentum towards the home team.
Chasing the 163-target, Chennai had a slow start. They managed only five runs in the first two overs. Then Shane Watson got the first boundary, with a flat six over the mid-wicket in the third over from Trent Boult's bowling.
Then Ambati Rayudu joined the party, hitting three sixes and a four off Avesh Khan in the sixth over.
But, Amith Mishra drew the first blood as Watson hit one straight to Boult. He went for 14 from 23 balls and Chennai were 46/1.
The very next ball, new batsman Suresh Raina got a life after Rishabh Pant dropped his catch from behind the stumps.
Rayudu then hit a six and a four off Mishra's next over and then raced to his fifty in no time from just 28 balls.
However, Patel brought an end to Rayudu's innings after Glenn Maxwell took a brilliant catch in the deep mid-wicket. The opener went for 50 off 29 balls (four 4s and four 6s) and Super Kings were 70/2 in 10 overs.
New batsman MS Dhoni and Raina cleverly rotated their strikes and kept the scoreboard ticking. Nepal bowler Sandeep lamichhane prevented the partnership from developing into a dangerous one with a timely breakthrough. He brought an end to Raina's struggling brief stay in the middle. Shankar took a smart catch in the deep mid-wicket as the left-hander went for 15 off 18 balls in the first ball of the 14th over.
Mishra then struck again as an attempted sweep shot from Sam Billings (one off five balls) got a thick leading edge and was easily taken by Abhishek Sharma in short third-man. Chennai were in a tricky position at 93/4 in 14.3 overs.
Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja found it difficult to get the boundaries and the run rate kept sky rocketing.
In the last ball off the 18th over, Dhoni attempted to clear the long-on but only ended up finding Shreyas Iyer, who took a smart catch in the deep. Chennai's skipper went for 17 off 23 balls as the visitors were 113/5. It seemed to be the final nail in the coffin as CSK needed 50 from the last two overs.
It was too much to expect from new batsman Bravo as the situation came down to 39 from six balls. Shankar took a decent catch of Bravo's attempted big hit from Boult's final over as the visitors ended their innings at 128/6.
Mishra (2/20) and lamichhane (1/21) were brilliant with the ball and and put Chennai in the back foot. Patel too finished with decent figures of 1/23.
Earlier, the hosts had a slow start as well. In the fourth over, Prithvi Shaw survived a scare after Shardul Thakur dropped his catch.
But the youngster did not last long in the middle. In the very first ball of the fifth over, Shaw (17 off 17) hit one straight to Thakur at long-on from Deepak Chahar's bowling.
The 10th over was an expensive one. In the first ball of the tenth over, Rishabh Pant picked the length beautifully to hit a massive six off Harbhajan Singh over the long-off. Pant then cut one past the point and then saw his mishit shot narrowly go over Dwayne Bravo in long-off for a maximum. That over went for 17 runs.
lungi Ngidi took a timely breakthrough for Chennai. He first clean bowled Iyer (19 off 22 balls) and then got rid off Pant, whose mistimed shot was caught by Bravo in third-man, in the same over. The young left-hander went for 38 from 26 balls (three 4s and two 6s) as Delhi were in a spot of bother at 81/3 in 11 overs.
Glenn Maxwell's (five off seven balls) miserable campaign continued after he was bowled by Ravindra Jadeja while attempting an audacious reverse sweep.
Abhishek Sharma (two off four balls) was the next to go after his mist-timed pull-shot was easily taken by Harbhajan at mid-on from Shardul's bowling. Delhi were in all kinds of trouble, struggling at 97/5 in 14.4 overs.
They reached 102 in 15 overs and were in desperate need of a miracle in the last five overs to put a decent total on board.
The pair of Shankar-Harshal Patel were doing their best to make it happen. Shankar ended the 17th over with a six, before Patel flicked one over deep square leg in the next over from Dwayne Bravo.
Notably, in the last over off Bravo's bowling, Patel smashed three massive sixes. In the midst of it, Shankar cleared the ropes as well in the same over. The last over accounted for 26 runs and the sixth-wicket partnership was a crucial 65 runs from 32 balls.